Opposition Claims Regime Strong-Arming Public Companies to Secure Votes

Miroslav Aleksic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

The formation of Serbian Progressive Party electoral offices throughout public companies is well under way, while Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs Minister Milica Djurdjevic Stamenkovski has been facilitating the delivery of quotas for so-called ‘capillary votes’ via the Center for Social Services and nursing homes, said Miroslav Aleksic, the president of the oppositional People’s Movement of Serbia, for the April 27 edition of the Nova daily.

In the same vein, companies across Serbia are being required to provide the regime with detailed employee listings, Aleksic claimed.

“I believe the [snap parliamentary] elections will likely take place on July 12, and that seems almost certain. [President Aleksandar] Vucic has announced the opening of capital projects, infrastructural ones like the Morava Corridor and the Danube Highway, and that will be happening in June. In May, [the government] will probably adopt changes to electoral laws in keeping with ODIHR recommendations, although those laws affect nothing of consequence. They're just for show,” Aleksic concluded.

‘Capillary votes’ are a newly-coined term used to describe the Progressives’ commitment to securing as many votes as possible by delving deep into every facet of society and either coercing votes under the threat of layoffs or eliciting support by promising benefits and providing token handouts.

Meanwhile, the Morava Corridor is a 30-kilometer highway that links two of Serbia’s main freeways – the Milos Veliki Highway and the Belgrade-Nis highway – but will also significantly ease travel between western and eastern Serbia, currently very poorly connected.

Similarly, the Danube Highway (a.k.a. Corridor) extends from Smederevo to the Romanian border and will contribute the fastest and most direct route between Belgrade and Bucharest.